Businessman claims he owes $579,000, not the $1M-plus as reported on weekend

Cape Breton Post

Published: Nov 08, 2010 at midnight

Updated: Oct 02, 2017 at 11:51 a.m.

ALBERT BRIDGE — Businessman Warren Matheson says he owes money to only one creditor, and that’s to his bank in the amount of $579,000.

Matheson of 583 Hillside Rd. owned and operated Mira Ferry Convenience, a popular store, lunch counter and bakery, which was destroyed by fire in November 2005.

In a bid to resurrect his store on Highway 22 overlooking the Mira River, he began to rebuild. However, the convenience store and gas bar, while finished, remain empty.

The keys to the building were turned over to the Business Development Bank of Canada on Nov. 4, Matheson said.

He said a published media report over the weekend claiming he owes creditors $1,287,667 is not true. The information had been obtained through documents in the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy.

“I don’t owe a light bill, I don’t owe a telephone bill, I owe nothing,” Matheson, 70, said in an interview with the Cape Breton Post, Monday.

BDC filed a civil suit recently against Matheson to recoup $541,000 in secured financing from his company Zomar Investments Ltd., which was formed in 1992.

The Cape Breton Regional Municipality is also a secured creditor in the amount of $37,966.50, and the property was expected to go to tax sale on Oct. 28.

CBRM financial services manager Nancy Dove confirmed the property at 4114 Highway 22 in Albert Bridge was taken off the list in advance of the tax sale.

Matheson said BDC, a federally owned financial institution, paid the balance owing on the property taxes.

“Once the bank foreclosed, I knew there was enough (money) there to cover whatever debt that I owed the (CBRM).”

He confirmed his company’s assets total $720,000.

PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc. in Sydney will hold a meeting of Zomar’s creditors on Nov. 24.

Matheson said he was prepared to open the store in 2008, only to have the date pushed back twice, leaving him no choice but to throw out perishable food.

However, he’s not yet prepared to talk about what prevented him from opening the business again.

“I want to leave that until everything is said and done.”

Although the fire wasn’t deemed suspicious, the fire marshal’s office said it wasn’t possible to determine the cause of the fire because so little remained of the structure. The 60-year-old building had been an addition to a century-old house.

Matheson said he has no intention of opening another convenience store or gas station.